Every year, Centaur and I try to do some kind of scenario thing - in recent years, we've played through Fantasy Fellowships, the Scouring of the Shire, and a custom campaign through all the Osgiliath missions. Today, we're starting this year's campaign, which will be playing through the scenarios related to Helm's Deep from the War in Rohan supplement. We'll be using the new profiles, but we won't be altering the scenario participants to make legal Matched Play lists (it just doesn't work for Good this time around). We'll also be showing off the amazing terrain from Conquest Creations' Kingdom of Saxonia, Volume II - Jacob has really outdone himself and boy was making the terrain a ton easier than before!
The Walls of Helm's Deep (War in Rohan, p. 26)
We're using the actual scenario participants in this scenario:
- Forces of Good: Mostly The Defenders of Helm's Deep
- Aragorn - Strider with armor
- Legolas Greenleaf with armor
- Gimli, Son of Gloin
- Haldir with Elf bow and heavy armor
- Aldor
- Haleth, Son of Hama
- 8 Warriors of Rohan with shields
- 8 Warriors of Rohan with shields and throwing spears
- 8 Warriors of Rohan with bows
- 4 Galadhrim Warriors
- 4 Galadhrim Warriors with shields and spears
- 4 Galadhrim Warriors with Elf bows
- Forces of Evil: The Assault Upon Helm's Deep
- 4 Uruk-Hai Captains
- 10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with shields
- 10 Uruk-Hai Warriors with pikes
- 12 Uruk-Hai Berserkers
- 5 Siege Ladders
We could have made this a Matched Play game by adding Theoden to the good side - the points are one-sided towards the Forces of Good and they have the walls . . . we'll see how this goes. The victory conditions for this scenario are based on how many ladders Evil can keep up - if Good can knock down 4+ of the 5 ladders, they win. If Evil can keep up 4+ of the ladders, they win. If there are 3 ladders left standing, it's a draw.
The board is a 24"x48" setup (though we have an extra foot of space behind Centaur's lines that he's not going to use) - the actual scenario is played on a 4x4 table, which means my guys are twice as packed in as they would normally be . . . repositioning is basically impossible:
Turn 1: Priority Good
Centaur called two Heroic Marches with Captains #2 and #3 (1/2M each) to get his boys up the board - very good call, given the amount of archery that I have.
Aldor began the Shoot Phase by shooting at the Berserker - he got a 1 To Hit but then rerolled it into a 6! He then got the required 6 To Wound! . . . and then the Berserker saved the wound on a 6+ for Oblivious to Pain - it's the amazing shot . . . that wasn't. :) #JustRoll6s
In the Shoot Phase, Haldir (1/3M), Legolas (1/3M), 2 Warriors of Rohan, and 2 Elves killed 5 guys with their bows - solid output, guys!
Kill count: Legolas 1, Gimli 0
Turn 2: Priority tied, Evil
The Uruks advanced towards the walls and not much happened in the Shoot Phase. Aldor boosted his wounding roll and killed a crossbow (1/1M), but that's it.
Kill count: Legolas 1, Gimli 0
Turn 3: Priority Evil, given to Good
Darn - I kinda wanted to respond to his movement, but I basically just stayed in place instead. He then moved the ladders up to start the fight!
In the Shoot Phase, a lot happened. Haleth killed a berserker with his bow and Legolas killed a pikeman. A Warrior of Rohan wounded a Berserker, but it was saved on a 6 (look at those saves doing the work!). For Evil, 3 crossbows hit Aragorn, but they all bounced off the wall.
Lots of fighting happened in the Fight Phase, as you can see - not much to write home about though. Of note, Aldor won against a Berserker, but the guy he was fighting stayed at the top of the ladder.
Kill count: Legolas 2, Gimli 0
Turn 4: Priority Good
Because I got to go first, I was able to push over two of the ladders (killing a few guys), but the Uruks put things back up and are ready to fight again.
In the Shoot Phase, I kept the pressure by with Haldir killing a pike (2/3M) and Legolas (2/3M) wounding Captain #4, who passed his fate save (1/1F). For Evil, a crossbow wounded Haleth (1/2H).
Aragorn declared a free Heroic Combat, won his combat at a steep price (2/3M), and killed his foe (who thankfully didn't pass enough saves to stay alive).
In the rest of the Fight Phase, Aragorn got one wound through a Berserker, Gimli killed his foe, and Aldor won and got everyone to fall off the ladder (resulting in a dead Berserker and a wound on Captain #4). Otherwise, there were even losses on both sides.
Kill count: Legolas 2, Gimli 1
Turn 5: Priority Evil
The wall is breached and the Uruks are in! The limitations on my mobility is going to prove to be a problem starting now . . .
In the Shoot Phase, the heroes were non-players, but a Warrior of Rohan killed a shield guy with his bow (love it when these guys do that).
In the Fight Phase, Gimli called a Heroic Combat, killed his foe, and then charged into Captain #3 and got 2 wounds against him. Captain #3 passed his fate save and hangs on for another round (1/1F, 1/2H). In other news, the Captain nearest the camera loses, takes a wound, and fails his fate save (1/1F, 1/2H). Also, Aldor died . . . horribly and finally.
Kill count: Legolas 2, Gimli 2
Turn 6: Priority Evil
The fights continue, with the Uruks having a growing presence on the wings . . . places where I am very scant of heroes.
In the Shoot Phase, a crossbow killed an Elf bowman (ouch), but Good retaliated with Haleth killing a crossbow (1/1M), a Warrior of Rohan killing a shield guy, and Legolas killing Captain #4 (3/3M) - vengeance is ours!
In the Fight Phase, Gimli wins his fight, gets everything through, and kills Captain #3 - two Captains in one turn! Other stuff happened too, as you can see, but nothing else of note.
Kill count: Legolas 3, Gimli 3
Turn 7: Priority Evil
We're "professionals" here*, but even professionals forget to take photos of the Move Phase. In the Shoot Phase, a Warrior of Rohan kills a crossbow - always good when that happens!
In the Fight Phase, Captain #1 draws the combat (2/2M), loses, and dies (oops). Additionally, Gimli kills a pikeman and Aragorn kills a berserker.
Kill count: Legolas 3, Gimli 4. Hey look, for the first time in - like - ever, Gimli is out-killing Legolas.
Turn 8: Priority Evil
In the Move Phase, Aragorn declares a free heroic move - but then he fails to knock over the ladder! Not to "show up" his friend, Gimli knocks his over and makes the Uruks work a little harder to get it up again.
In the Shoot Phase, a crossbow wounds Haldir (1/2H). In response, Haldir killed 2 pikemen and an Elf killed a shield guy.
The Fight Phase goes pretty well for me - it's not without loses, but we're still holding strong against the Uruks!
Kill count: Legolas 3, Gimli 4
Turn 9: Priority Evil
Aragorn calls another free heroic move and Gimli got a 1 to knock over the ladder . . . boo.
In the Shoot Phase, the warriors were the ones that stole the show, with an Elf and a Warrior of Rohan killing 2 Uruk-Hai.
In the Fight Phase, Captain #2 won his fight (2/2M), but only got a 3-high To Wound! In the other fights, Good has most of the dominance.
Kill count: Legolas 3, Gimli 4
Turn 10: Priority Good
The board is pretty sparse at this point - the Uruks don't even try to push back up one of the ladders.
In the Shoot Phase, Gimli and 2 Rohan bowmen kill 3 guys, while Legolas used Pinpoint Shot to kill a pikeman (3/3M) - four more wounds against the enemy!
And in the Fight Phase, Good again is dominating the field with most of the Uruks killed off.
Kill count: Legolas 4, Gimli 5
Turn 11: Priority Good
We're nearing the end of the scenario, but the Uruks are hanging on. I really need to get my heroes into the action . . .
The Fight Phase is a bit uneventful with a few guys dying here and there.
Kill count: Legolas 4, Gimli 6
Turn 12: Priority Evil
Here we are on Turn 12 . . . and I just need to knock over another ladder . . . and I failed to knock it over on a 1 - NOOOO!!!!!
Honestly, the rest of the fights don't matter - guys died, ladders stood, that's what actually mattered.
Kill count: Legolas 4, Gimli 6
Conclusion
And so, with Gimli outkilling Legolas in what should have been a turkey-shoot kind of mission, Evil takes the first win of the campaign! I will say that as Centaur and I were refreshing on the updated ladder rules, I think the rules team did a great job of revisiting a very quintessential element of the Lord of the Rings and ladders are - dare I say it - a perfectly workable and fine mechanic now. :) Yes, I think siege ladders are still sub-par to siege towers if you can afford them in your siege games, but ladders work just fine so long as you have something tough at the top of them.
Next time, we'll be continuing our campaign through War in Rohan with The Walls of Helm's Deep - we hope you enjoyed the battle report (and sorry for not getting the words in on time - the next one has everything in it!) and until next time, happy hobbying!
* And by "professionals", we mean that Tiberius absolutely did not transfer the bare-bones notes and photos to the post and forget to put in all the descriptions . . . again . . . :)
Happy to be a part of this blog, I've been reading it weekly for absolutely ages now, great to see such a milestone!
ReplyDelete